Pimpin' it in the Carolinas

What a weekend! Kenny and I had such a great time on our Carolina road trip, and breaking up the driving into chunks really helped alleviate long periods of time in the car. We left Lafayette around 11am on Friday and made great time to Atlanta. We even decided to stop off in Montgomery for a dinner break at the Montgomery Brewing Company. Any chance for Ken to taste new brews! The burgers at MBC were fantastic, as was the beer. After that it was an easy 2 hours to our hotel in Atlanta to rest up for the morning drive into Columbia.

We got onto the USC campus around lunchtime, so we decided to grab some lunch at the Carolina Ale House before heading out to tailgate. Lots of our fellow Tiger fans had the same idea to pre-load: the upstairs area was packed with people wearing purple and gold! The food was less than stellar and the beer wasn't their own creation, but we still had a good time.

All decked out in our purple and gold!

Carolina Ale House

Now, on to the LSU Alumni Tailgate and Tiger Pimp Nation! It started off small but grew very quickly. I'm not sure the South Carolina fans knew what was going on or what to think. For us it was just your typical LSU tailgate.

Paulan and I with 3 pimps

Some of the Tiger Pimp Nation

Erica, Heath, me, Kenny, and Alan

What's going on here??

Game time! After meeting up with Jackie and Brian, we climbed all the way up to the east upper deck to watch the Tigers play their way to victory. It was mighty chilly up there but at least we were surrounded by lots of faithful LSU fans. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Jackie and I lovin' on Kenny

On our drive to North Carolina for the Saints-Panthers game, I was reminded how much prettier the interstates on the east coast are compared to the ones at home. Check out the gorgeous wildflowers that grow all along I-77 between Columbia and Charlotte! Instead of trash lining the sides of the roads, there are patches of brilliant color on both sides and in the middle of the interstate. This is just one of the many pictures I was able to snap during our hour-long drive.

Although the Saints' performance was terrible, Ken and I still enjoyed our visit to the Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte. Our seats were great (thanks, Jackie!), and it was a beautiful day with a gorgeous Carolina blue sky. Once the game was over, we bid farewell to Jackie and Brian and then headed to the Rock Bottom Brewery on North Tryon Street. Good grub and tasty beer filled us up for our drive back to Atlanta, where we fell into our hotel bed for some much needed sleep. A fairly early start the next morning got us back to Lafayette by 5:30pm. Needless to say, it was another great road trip. Who knows where the next one will take us?!?

Heading into the game

Devery and Deuce, among many others

Me and Jack